Continual improvement process

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The scientific method is an example of a continual improvement process The Scientific Method as an Ongoing Process.svg
The scientific method is an example of a continual improvement process

A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. [1] These efforts can seek "incremental" improvement over time or "breakthrough" improvement all at once. [2] Delivery (customer valued) processes are constantly evaluated and improved in the light of their efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility.

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Some see continual improvement processes as a meta-process for most management systems (such as business process management, quality management, project management, and program management). [3] W. Edwards Deming, a pioneer of the field, saw it as part of the 'system' whereby feedback from the process and customer were evaluated against organisational goals. The fact that it can be called a management process does not mean that it needs to be executed by 'management'; but rather merely that it makes decisions about the implementation of the delivery process and the design of the delivery process itself. [4] [5] A broader definition is that of the Institute of Quality Assurance who defined "continuous improvement as a gradual never-ending change which is: '... focused on increasing the effectiveness and/or efficiency of an organisation to fulfil its policy and objectives. It is not limited to quality initiatives. Improvement in business strategy, business results, customer, employee and supplier relationships can be subject to continual improvement. Put simply, it means 'getting better all the time'.' " [6] : 498 

The key features of continual improvement process in general are:

Kaizen

A kaizen process Kaizen-event-process.jpg
A kaizen process

Some successful implementations use the approach known as kaizen (the translation of kai ('change') zen ('good') is 'improvement'). This method became famous from Imai's 1986 book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success. [7]

Key features of kaizen include:

The elements above are the more tactical elements of continual improvement processes. The more strategic elements include deciding how to increase the value of the delivery process output to the customer (effectiveness) and how much flexibility is valuable in the process to meet changing needs. [7] [8]

PDCA

The plan-do-check-act cycle is an example of a continual improvement process PDCA Cycle.svg
The plan–do–check–act cycle is an example of a continual improvement process

The PDCA (plan, do, check, act) or (plan, do, check, adjust) cycle supports continuous improvement and kaizen. It provides a process for improvement which can be used since the early design (planning) stage of any process, system, product or service.

PDSA

The PDSA (plan, do, study, act) cycle is often credited to W. Edwards Deming and often called the Deming cycle though W. Edwards Deming referred to it as the Shewhart cycle. [9] Walter A. Shewhart back in the 1920s was working at Western Electric Company with W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran. Shewhart took the standard academic scientific method of inductive and deductive thinking, used in hypothesis testing, and converted it to a simple notion. When one does something, they plan it, do it, study it, and act on its results – the PDSA cycle. This was a far simpler notion to use and inform the shop floor of Western Electric while building telephones, where many workers would not and could not understand the scientific method. In fact, the PDSA notion could easily be applied to everyday activities such as driving a car to work. Thus, the PDSA cycle was very easy to relate to by Western's workforce and gained the buy-in needed.

In environmental management

The continual improvement process concept is also used in environmental management systems (EMS), such as ISO 14000 and EMAS. The term "continual improvement", not "continuous improvement", is used in ISO 14000, and is understood to refer to an ongoing series of small or large-scale improvements which are each done discretely, i.e. in a step-wise fashion. Several differences exist between the CIP concept as it is applied in quality management and environmental management. Continual improvement in environmental management systems aims to improve the natural consequences of products and activities, not the products and activities as such. Secondly, there is no client-orientation in EMS-related continual improvement processes. Also, continual improvement processes in environmental management systems is not limited to small, incremental improvements as in kaizen, it also includes innovations of any scale. [10]

ISO change from continuous to continual

In the late 1990s, the developers of the ISO 9001:2000 standard—which addressed quality management systems and principles—debated whether or not to update the use of the word continuous to continual. [11] [12] [13] ISO Technical Committee 176 and regulatory representatives ultimately decided that "continuous was unenforceable because it meant an organization had to improve minute by minute, whereas, continual improvement meant step-wise improvement or improvement in segments". [11] The committee reportedly did not base the change on dictionary definitions or the standard's vocabulary. [11] This change ran contrary to the common usage of continuous in the standard and other prior business management documentation. [12] [14]

The concept of continual improvement is the core of the British Standards Institute's 2019 publication: BS 8624 Guide to Continual improvement: Methods for quantification. [15] BS 8624 describes requirements for continual improvement and provides methods and examples of recognized techniques. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

A quality management system (QMS) is a collection of business processes focused on consistently meeting customer requirements and enhancing their satisfaction. It is aligned with an organization's purpose and strategic direction. It is expressed as the organizational goals and aspirations, policies, processes, documented information, and resources needed to implement and maintain it. Early quality management systems emphasized predictable outcomes of an industrial product production line, using simple statistics and random sampling. By the 20th century, labor inputs were typically the most costly inputs in most industrialized societies, so focus shifted to team cooperation and dynamics, especially the early signaling of problems via a continual improvement cycle. In the 21st century, QMS has tended to converge with sustainability and transparency initiatives, as both investor and customer satisfaction and perceived quality are increasingly tied to these factors. Of QMS regimes, the ISO 9000 family of standards is probably the most widely implemented worldwide – the ISO 19011 audit regime applies to both and deals with quality and sustainability and their integration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Edwards Deming</span> American engineer and statistician (1900–1993)

William Edwards Deming was an American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical physics, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the United States Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He is also known as the father of the quality movement and was hugely influential in post-WWII Japan, credited with revolutionizing Japan's industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world. He is best known for his theories of management.

Total quality management (TQM) is an organization-wide effort to "install and make a permanent climate where employees continuously improve their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value." Total emphasizes that departments in addition to production are obligated to improve their operations; management emphasizes that executives are obligated to actively manage quality through funding, training, staffing, and goal setting. While there is no widely agreed-upon approach, TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of quality control. TQM received widespread attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s before being overshadowed by ISO 9000, Lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma.

The ISO 14000 family is a set of international standards for environment management systems. It was developed in March 1996 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of it is help organizations (a) minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment ; (b) comply with applicable laws, regulations, and other environmentally oriented requirements; and (c) continually improve in the above.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lean manufacturing</span> Methodology used to improve production

Lean manufacturing is a method of manufacturing goods aimed primarily at reducing times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and customers. It is closely related to another concept called just-in-time manufacturing. Just-in-time manufacturing tries to match production to demand by only supplying goods that have been ordered and focus on efficiency, productivity, and reduction of "wastes" for the producer and supplier of goods. Lean manufacturing adopts the just-in-time approach and additionally focuses on reducing cycle, flow, and throughput times by further eliminating activities that do not add any value for the customer. Lean manufacturing also involves people who work outside of the manufacturing process, such as in marketing and customer service.

Kaizen is a concept referring to business activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. Kaizen also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain. Kaizen aims to eliminate waste and redundancies. Kaizen may also be referred to as zero investment improvement (ZII) due to its utilization of existing resources.

Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design, reliability, and maintainability expectations of that customer. The core purpose of Quality Assurance is to prevent mistakes and defects in the development and production of both manufactured products, such as automobiles and shoes, and delivered services, such as automotive repair and athletic shoe design. Assuring quality and therefore avoiding problems and delays when delivering products or services to customers is what ISO 9000 defines as that "part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled". This defect prevention aspect of quality assurance differs from the defect detection aspect of quality control and has been referred to as a shift left since it focuses on quality efforts earlier in product development and production and on avoiding defects in the first place rather than correcting them after the fact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter A. Shewhart</span> American statistician

Walter Andrew Shewhart was an American physicist, engineer and statistician. He is sometimes also known as the grandfather of statistical quality control and also related to the Shewhart cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Control chart</span> Process control tool to determine if a manufacturing process is in a state of control

Control charts are graphical plots used in production control to determine whether quality and manufacturing processes are being controlled under stable conditions. The hourly status is arranged on the graph, and the occurrence of abnormalities is judged based on the presence of data that differs from the conventional trend or deviates from the control limit line. Control charts are classified into Shewhart individuals control chart and CUSUM(CUsUM)(or cumulative sum control chart)(ISO 7870-4).

Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese organizational theorist and a professor in the engineering faculty at the University of Tokyo who was noted for his quality management innovations. He is considered a key figure in the development of quality initiatives in Japan, particularly the quality circle. He is best known outside Japan for the Ishikawa or cause and effect diagram, often used in the analysis of industrial processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statistical process control</span> Method of quality control

Statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC) is the application of statistical methods to monitor and control the quality of a production process. This helps to ensure that the process operates efficiently, producing more specification-conforming products with less waste scrap. SPC can be applied to any process where the "conforming product" output can be measured. Key tools used in SPC include run charts, control charts, a focus on continuous improvement, and the design of experiments. An example of a process where SPC is applied is manufacturing lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDCA</span> Iterative design and management method used in business

PDCA or plan–do–check–act is an iterative design and management method used in business for the control and continual improvement of processes and products. It is also known as the Shewhart cycle, or the control circle/cycle. Another version of this PDCA cycle is OPDCA. The added stands for observation or as some versions say: "Observe the current condition." This emphasis on observation and current condition has currency with the literature on lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System. The PDCA cycle, with Ishikawa's changes, can be traced back to S. Mizuno of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1959.

Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control, and quality improvement. Quality management is focused both on product and service quality and the means to achieve it. Quality management, therefore, uses quality assurance and control of processes as well as products to achieve more consistent quality. Quality control is also part of quality management. What a customer wants and is willing to pay for it, determines quality. It is a written or unwritten commitment to a known or unknown consumer in the market. Quality can be defined as how well the product performs its intended function.

Genba is a term used in business for the location where value is created, such as a factory floor, construction site, or sales floor.

Operational Excellence (OE) is the systematic implementation of principles and tools designed to enhance organizational performance, and create a culture focused on continuous improvement. It is intended to enable employees to identify, deliver, and enhance the flow of value to customers. Common frameworks associated with operational excellence include: lean management and Six Sigma, which emphasize efficiency, waste reduction, and quality improvement. Organizations that adopt these practices may report increased customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

An environmental management system (EMS) is "a system which integrates policy, procedures and processes for training of personnel, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized environmental performance information to internal and external stakeholders of a firm".

The concept of business process orientation (BPO) is based upon the work of Deming, Porter (1985), Davenport and Short (1990), Hammer, Grover et al. (1995), and Coombs and Hull (1996). This body of work suggests that firms could enhance their overall performance by adopting a “process view” of the organization. Although many firms have adopted the BPO concept, little to no empirical data existed substantiating its effectiveness in facilitating improved business performance. McCormack (2000) conducted an empirical study to explore the relationship between BPO and enhanced business performance. The research results showed that BPO is critical in reducing conflict and encouraging greater connectedness within an organization, while improving business performance. Moreover, companies with strong measures of BPO showed better overall business performance. The research also showed that high BPO levels within organizations led to a more positive corporate climate, illustrated through better organizational connectedness and less internal conflict. Another empirical study by Kohlbacher (2009) reveals that BPO is positively associated with customer satisfaction, product quality, delivery speed and time-to-market speed.

A quality storyboard is a visual tool used in production and product development to outline the quality and performance standards for a project or product, ensuring that the final product meets or exceeds the specified objectives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven basic tools of quality</span> Fixed set of visual exercises for troubleshooting issues related to quality

The seven basic tools of quality are a fixed set of visual exercises identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting issues related to quality. They are called basic because they are suitable for people with little formal training in statistics and because they can be used to solve the vast majority of quality-related issues.

In business, engineering, and manufacturing, quality – or high quality – has a pragmatic interpretation as the non-inferiority or superiority of something ; it is also defined as being suitable for the intended purpose while satisfying customer expectations. Quality is a perceptual, conditional, and somewhat subjective attribute and may be understood differently by different people. Consumers may focus on the specification quality of a product/service, or how it compares to competitors in the marketplace. Producers might measure the conformance quality, or degree to which the product/service was produced correctly. Support personnel may measure quality in the degree that a product is reliable, maintainable, or sustainable. In such ways, the subjectivity of quality is rendered objective via operational definitions and measured with metrics such as proxy measures.

References

  1. ↑ Continuous Service Improvement — http://customerpromise.com/continuous-service-improvement
  2. ↑ ASQ: Learn About Quality — http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/continuous-improvement/overview/overview.html
  3. ↑ "Operational Excellence". Flevy. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Continuous Improvement". American Society for Quality. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  5. ↑ "Continuous Improvement process" . Retrieved 10 Dec 2020.
  6. ↑ Fryer, Karen J.; Antony, Jiju; Douglas, Alex (2007). "Critical success factors of continuous improvement in the public sector: A literature review and some key findings" (PDF). Total Quality Management. 19 (5): 497–517. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  7. 1 2 Imai, Masaaki (1986). Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success . McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN   0-07-554332-X.
  8. ↑ Imai, Masaaki (1997). Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management (1st ed.). McGraw-Hill. ISBN   0-07-031446-2.
  9. ↑ Pruitt, W. Frazier; Imam, S.M. Waqas. "Expert Answers: April 2021 | ASQ". asq.org. 54 (4): 6.
  10. ↑ Gastl, René: CIP in Environmental Management Archived 2011-02-12 at the Wayback Machine , an Abstract of Gastl, René: Kontinuierliche Verbesserung im Umweltmanagement, 2nd Ed, 2009, vdf, Zurich
  11. 1 2 3 Russel, J.P. (2003). "Continual Improvement Auditing" (PDF). Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  12. 1 2 Massé, K. (3 April 2014). "Continuous vs Continual". Lean Enterprise Institute. Archived from the original on December 7, 2017. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  13. ↑ "Why does ISO 9001 use 'continual' improvement vs 'continuous' improvement?". Terms & Concepts. Hycom Solutions. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "The Continual Improvement vs. Continuous Improvement Dilemma..." Management Coaching & Training Services. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
  15. ↑ "BSI Shop link for BS 8624".
  16. ↑ Homvela
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